Patent · US Expired

Virtual optical axis determination using machine vision for passive optical alignment

US7394840B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
2References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 30, 2005
Grant dateJul 1, 2008
Priority date—
Expiry dateApr 11, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S5/0617
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Alignment of a laser apparatus is achieved by actively aligning components of the laser apparatus and then passively deriving an optical axis from that alignment. This passive derivation can be achieved by identifying features of an actively aligned optical element, deriving positional data for those features, and developing an optical axis from that positional data. The derivation of positional data may be performed over a particular coordinate system of an image taken of the feature, e.g., obtained by a vision system. The positional data and optical axis may be extrapolated out to a reference coordinate system for use in passively aligning other optical elements.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.